The present invention relates to floor maintenance apparatus and more particularly to a vertical axis rotary floor treating element for such apparatus.
A fairly wide variety of floor maintenance machines are presently available. Such machines are used for scrubbing, stripping, polishing or buffing a floor surface. A rotary floor treating element engages the floor surface and is rotated about its vertical axis typically by an electric motor through a drive transmission. The machine may be supported on the floor surface by wheels and the floor treating element is rotated to strip, polish or buff the floor surface.
Rotary floor scrubbing machines may include one or more rotary floor treating elements which take the form of brushes. Water and a cleaning compound may be fed to the brushes which mix the solution and scrub the floor. Such machines are moved along the floor and after the scrubbing operation is completed, the water is removed from the floor with suction devices.
The scrubbing brushes are, of course, subject to wear during use. In commercial applications, the brushes must be replaced at fairly frequent intervals. Heretofore, such replacement has been a fairly time consuming, difficult and/or expensive proposition.
Various attempts have been made to reduce the difficulty and expense involved in replacing the brushes of the scrubbing machines. The brushes typically include a holder plate to which the brush elements are secured. The brush elements may be arranged circumferentially of the plate in radially spaced rows or they may be arranged as segments extending radially from the central axis of the plate. Typically, the brush elements are secured to the plate by fasteners such as bolts. Employing fasteners increases the time necessary to replace the brushes as well as the difficulty of maintenance. When brush replacement is difficult and/or time consuming, the required brush maintenance may not be performed and a satisfactory scrubbing operation will not be obtained.
Various attempts have been made to increase the ease of and reduce the expense of brush replacement. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,242,577, entitled FLOOR SCRUBBING APPARATUS and issued on May 20, 1941 to Finnell discloses a floor scrubbing apparatus including a generally circular brush holder plate or disc. Secured to the plate by fasteners are a plurality of individual scrub brush units. Each unit includes a brush holder in the form of a channel. One sidewall of the channel includes a plurality of inwardly extending prongs. The opposite wall supports a bowed leaf spring. Individual brushes or segments have bristles extending from a wooden brush back. The brush back is tilted so as to engage the leaf spring which is pushed to permit clearance for the brush back which is then rotated between the walls of the channel. The leaf spring then causes the prongs to bite into or engage the brush back.
Another example of a rotary brush may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,530, entitled ROTARY BRUSH PLASTIC BRISTLE HOLDER AND MOUNTING MEANS and issued on July 25, 1972 to Horton et al. This patent is primarily related to a gutter broom of the type used on road sweeping machines and discloses an assembly including a circular steel plate. A plurality of paired inverted T-shaped bars are mounted radially on one face of the plate. Brush bristles are carried by bristle holders and the holders are slipped between the T-shaped bars. A retaining collar is positioned to encircle the holders and the inverted T-shaped bars in order to wedge the holders in place. The retaining collar is secured to the plate by bolts and removal of the collar is necessary for replacement of the individual brush segments.
A need exists for a vertical axis brush whereby the costs of manufacture are reduced when compared to present structures and the ease of brush replacement is increased, as well as the ease of manufacture and assembly.